Monitoring traffic along
with bandwidth usage across the LAN connection is an essential part of network
performance.
Bandwidth monitoring
means focusing on internet traffic, bandwidth
monitoring in a circle with broader range of components. E.g.
you can monitor bandwidth speed or capacity; you can observe network traffic
between devices or general web application traffic. Regardless of what traffic
you are monitoring, though, it’s important to understand the bandwidth that is
being utilized so you can ensure users are getting the best possible
performance out of your network.
I would like to say that in
monitoring purpose your network bandwidth usage is the most major factor for network
administrator.
Bandwidth
Monitoring Means What? Do You Have any Idea about it?
Bandwidth monitors contains,
monitor, and analyze network traffic volume by end-point, port, interface, and
protocol (application base).
·
Minimizing the impact
of non-critical or unauthorized network traffic.
·
Assuring adequate
bandwidth for business-critical applications.
·
Identifying bandwidth
bottlenecks such as bandwidth hogging processes unnecessarily running in peak
load periods.
·
Alerting to potential
Distributed Denial of Service attacks or externally initiated port-scans.
It used to be that
bandwidth monitoring only meant focusing on internet traffic, but the practice
is now being used for a much wider range of components. To give you a solid
idea of its modern use cases, it's now possible to observe network
traffic between general web application traffic or devices. No
matter what traffic you may be monitoring, a solid understanding of the
bandwidth analysis is incredibly important so that network administrators
can be certain that they're providing the best possible performance to
end-users.
Why is bandwidth monitoring important?
The monitoring of a network bandwidth assists in
comprehending the quantity of data flow across a given network. Therefore, one
is able to ascertain the value of the network efficiency and internet bandwidth
that is needed by the network. A traffic monitor can also help to prevent
inordinate spending on broadband outstanding fees. It also helps to pick the
perfect data plan or ISP your company requires. This helps to save your
company’s money and provides you (worker) the chances of receiving a salary
raise.
Most ISP enforces a restriction on the bandwidth a
company can consume. If they spend more than the required bandwidth,
significant and unnecessary costs will be incurred. Alternatively, a company
could end up parting with more money to pay for excess useless volume, yet pay
for it. With network monitoring, you can find the right balance and avoid the
inconveniences of spending unnecessarily.
Bandwidth capacity is also an important consideration. Bandwidth capacity means the maximum data can transfer and handle those Network load.
Bandwidth capacity is also an important consideration. Bandwidth capacity means the maximum data can transfer and handle those Network load.
Analyzing Network Data
At its core,
bandwidth monitoring is all about data. Bandwidth is measured as the amount of
data transferred in time (bits per second). In the modern era, there's a
seemingly unlimited amount of data being transferred between users at the push
of a button, so it's critical that we know how to measure the speed and
performance of this data.
What is Netflow?
NetFlow is a
network protocol developed by Cisco to collect IP network traffic as it
enters or exits and interface. NetFlow uses seven key values to identify unique
flows:
·
Source IP Address
·
Destination IP Address
·
Source port
·
Destination port
·
IP Protocol
·
Ingress interface
·
Type of Service (ToS) values
Bandwidth Analysis
Mostly organization
are reliant on network speeds to conduct critical operations. It’s important
that administrators remember that there are two distinct types of bandwidth
speeds; upload and download speeds. Both of these speeds should be monitored to
ensure optimal network performance.
Bandwidth
capacity is also an important consideration for administrators. Bandwidth
capacity is the maximum amount of data that a link is able to transfer. During
network configuration, as per bandwidth capacity the administrators will need
to know how much traffic the network can support.
Below are the few Bandwidth monitoring related sensors by using that you can do accurate Bandwidth Monitoring.
- Packet Sniffer
- SNMP
- NetFlow v5
- NetFlow v9
-
IPFIX
- jFlow
- sFlow
- Cisco ASA VPN
- Cisco ADSL
- NetApp Storage
- Windows Network Card
- IPFIX/xFlow/Packet Sniffer/SNMP